The following connection option descriptions are listed alphabetically by the GUI name that appears on the driver Setup dialog box. The connection string attribute name, along with its short name, is listed immediately underneath the GUI name.
In most cases, the GUI name and the attribute name are the same; however, some exceptions exist. If you need to look up an option by its connection string attribute name, please refer to the alphabetical table of connection string attribute names.
Also, a few connection string attributes, for example, Password, do not have equivalent options that appear on the GUI. They are in the list of descriptions alphabetically by their attribute names.
Table 13-1 lists the connection string attributes supported by the Oracle driver.
A list of alternate database servers to which the driver tries to connect if the primary database server is unavailable. Specifying a value for this option enables connection failover for the driver. The value you specify must be in the form of a string that defines the physical location of each alternate server. All of the other required connection information for each alternate server is the same as what is defined for the primary server connection.
(ServerName=
servervalue[, . . .]
)
If set to 0 (Disabled), the driver does not work with multi-threaded applications. If using the driver with single-threaded applications, this value avoids additional processing required for ODBC thread-safety standards.
The number of bytes the driver can fetch in a single network round trip. Larger values increase throughput by reducing the number of times the driver fetches data across the network. Smaller values increase response time, as there is less of a delay waiting for the server to transmit data.
If set to 1 (Enabled), the result column REMARKS (for the catalog functions SQLTables and SQLColumns) and the result column COLUMN_DEF (for the catalog function SQLColumns) return actual values. Enabling this option reduces the performance of your catalog (SQLColumns and SQLTables) queries.
When set to 10gR1 and later, the driver binds all non-integer numerics as BINARY FLOAT and BINARY DOUBLE. When set to any Oracle version previous to Oracle10
g R1, the driver binds non-integer numerics as if connected to an Oracle 9
i R2 or earlier version of the server (regardless of the actual version of the server to which it is connected). When connecting to an Oracle 10
g server with a pre-10
g client, this attribute must be set to the same version as the actual Oracle client software in use; otherwise, numeric parameter bindings may fail. Versions of the Oracle client software prior to 10
g R1 do not fully support the new features of the Oracle 10
g database server.
If set to 1 (Enabled), the state of connections removed from the connection pool for reuse by an application is reset to the initial configuration of the connection. Resetting the state can negatively impact performance because additional commands must be sent over the network to the server to reset the state of the connection.
where x is a positive integer from 1 to 65535.
If set to x, the driver retries connection attempts the specified number of times. If a connection is not established during the retry attempts, the driver returns an error that is generated by the last server to which it tried to connect.
where x is a positive integer from 1 to 65535.
If set to x, the driver waits the specified number of seconds between connection retry attempts.
where string is the name of a data source.
The maximum length of data (in KB) the driver can fetch from long columns in a single round trip and the maximum length of data that the driver can send using the SQL_DATA_AT_EXEC parameter.
The value must be in multiples of 1024 (for example, 1024, 2048). You need to increase the default value if the total size of any Long data exceeds 1 MB. This value is multiplied by 1024 to determine the total maximum length of fetched data. For example, if you enter a value of 2048, the maximum length of data would be 1024 x 2048, or 2097152 (2 MB).
An optional long description of a data source. This description is not used as a runtime connection attribute, but does appear in the ODBC.INI section of the Registry and in the odbc.ini file.
where string is a description of a data source.
Determines whether the driver provides support for the N-types NCHAR, NVARCHAR2, and NCLOB. These types are described as SQL_WCHAR, SQL_WVARCHAR, and SQL_WLONGVARCHAR, and are returned as supported by SQLGetTypeInfo. In addition, the "normal" char types (char, varchar2, long, clob) are described as SQL_CHAR, SQL_VARCHAR, and SQL_LONGVARCHAR regardless of the character set on the Oracle server.
Determines whether the SQLDescribeParam function describes all parameters with a data type of SQL_VARCHAR for Select statements. For Insert/Update/Delete statements and for stored procedures, the parameters are described as the actual Oracle data types on the Oracle server. This option must be enabled to access data when using Microsoft Remote Data Objects (RDO).
Determines whether the driver supports Long columns when using a static cursor. Enabling this option causes a performance penalty at the time of execution when reading Long data.
If set to 1 (Enabled), the driver exposes timestamps with timezones to the application. The driver issues an ALTER SESSION at connection time to modify NLS_TIMESTAMP_TZ_FORMAT. NLS_TIMESTAMP_TZ_FORMAT is changed to the ODBC definition of a timestamp literal with the addition of the timezone literal: '
YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SSXFF TZR'.
An Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) value. You must specify a value for this option if your application is not Unicode‑enabled or if your database character set is not Unicode. Refer to
Chapter 4 “Internationalization, Localization, and Unicode” in the
DataDirect Connect Series for ODBC Reference for details.
where IANA_code_page is one of the valid values listed in
Chapter 1 “Values for the Attribute IANAAppCodePage” in the
DataDirect Connect Series for ODBC Reference. The value must match the database character encoding and the system locale.
The number of seconds to keep inactive connections open in a connection pool. An inactive connection is a database session that is not associated with an ODBC connection handle, that is, a connection in the pool that is not in use by an application.
where x is a positive integer that specifies a number of seconds.
If set to x, inactive connections are closed after the specified number of seconds passes.
Determines whether the driver uses client load balancing in its attempts to connect to the database servers (primary and alternate). You can specify one or multiple alternate servers by setting the Alternate Servers option.
If set to 0 (Disabled), the driver does not use client load balancing and connects to each server based on their sequential order (primary server first, then, alternate servers in the order they are specified).
A value to alter local time zone information. The default is "" (empty string), which means that the driver determines local time zone information from the operating system. If it is not available from the operating system, the driver defaults to using the setting on the Oracle server.
Specifies the amount of time, in seconds, the Oracle server waits for a lock to be released before generating an error when processing a Select...For Update statement on an Oracle 9
i or higher server.
where x is an integer that specifies a number of seconds.
If set to x, the server waits for the specified number of seconds for the lock to be released.
NOTE: If you are connected to an Oracle 8i server, any value greater than 0 is equivalent to the value -1.
The maximum number of connections allowed within a single connection pool. When the maximum number of connections is reached, no additional connections can be created in the connection pool.
The minimum number of connections that are opened and placed in a connection pool, in addition to the active connection, when the pool is created. The connection pool retains this number of connections, even when some connections exceed their Load Balance Timeout value.
where x is an integer from 1 to 65535.
Allows the driver to fetch Long data directly into the application’s buffers rather than allocating buffers and making a copy. This option decreases fetch times on Long data; however, it can cause the application to be limited to one active statement per connection.
The password that the application uses to connect to your database. The Password option cannot be specified through the driver Setup dialog box and should not be stored in a data source. It is specified through the Logon dialog box or a connection string.
where pwd is a valid password.
If set to 1 (Enabled), the driver returns result sets from stored procedures/functions. When set to 1 and you execute a stored procedure that does not return result sets, you will incur a small performance penalty.
An error message or warning can occur if an ODBC call causes a conversion error, or if an error occurs during code page conversions to and from the database or to and from the application. The error or warning generated is
Code page conversion error encountered. In the case of parameter data conversion errors, the driver adds the following sentence:
Error in parameter x, where
x is the parameter number. The standard rules for returning specific row and column errors for bulk operations apply.
On Oracle 10g R1 and higher, when a table is dropped, it is not actually removed from the database, but placed in the recycle bin instead.
If set to 0 (Disabled), the driver does not return tables contained in the recycle bin in the result sets returned from SQLTables and SQLColumns. Functionally, this means that the driver filters out any results whose Table name begins with BIN$.
See “Performance Considerations” for details about the logon dialog box.
where string is a list of valid client connection strings. Separate the strings with commas. If the client connection string contains a comma, enclose it in quotation marks, for example,
"Serv,1", "Serv,2", "Serv,3".
where string is a valid client connection string.
For local servers, use the SQL*Net connection string. If the SQL*Net connection string contains semicolons, enclose it in quotation marks. Refer to your SQL*Net documentation for more information.
If set to 0 (Oracle Version Specific), the driver determines whether to use the TO_DATE or TO_TIMESTAMP function based on the version of the Oracle server to which it is connected. If the driver is connected to an 8.x server, it maps the Date, Time, and Timestamp literals to the TO_DATE function. If the driver is connected to a 9.x or higher server, it maps these escapes to the TO_TIMESTAMP function.
The default user ID that is used to connect to your database. Your ODBC application may override this value or you may override it in the logon dialog box or connection string.
where userid is a valid user ID with permissions to access the database.